8 Things to Consider Before Moving Elderly Parents into Your Home

One of the toughest choices a person has to make is admitting their elderly parent can no longer care for themselves. The second toughest is choosing whether to move your aging parents into your home or to move them into an assisted living facility.

Often times on the surface moving elder parents into your home seems like the best option with multiple benefits. However, if not properly planned, prepared, and accounted for, moving your elderly parent in could result in more stress, heartache, and financial debt than before.

Things to consider which people often forget is the potential for remodeling of your home to accommodate their needs, bills like groceries, power, cable, and heat could go up, as well as missing out on certain social activities due to their need for care.

While the last one may seem selfish it can lead to resentment later on down the road. If you are thinking about moving your elderly parents into your home check out these 8 things to consider first. It can be a great experience with wonderful memories for everyone if thought out all the way through.

1. Determine Form of Care Required

This is one of the most important things to consider before offering to have an elderly parent move in with you. What type of care do they require on a daily basis?

Do they require constant 24-hour care? Will a nurse be required during the day with your parent? What about physical therapy? Medication? Shots? These are all things to be sure you fully understand before offering to house your elderly parent.

Doctors and nurses will help you to prepare for taking care of your elderly parent by providing resources, training materials, and certification opportunities that may be available to help you care for your parent better. Just be sure you know what they require and are prepared to provide it.

2. Are Special Accommodations Needed?

Now that you’ve determined what type of care s required you need to determine if any special accommodations need to be made. These accommodations can be as small and simple as buying non-slip rugs for high traffic areas, and buying extra groceries, to renovating your home to put in handicap accessible ramps, railings, bathroom, and so on.

Knowing what is needed to care for someone is only half the battle, being able to provide them that care is the other. Assisted living facilities have staff fully trained and qualified in a facility built for the elderly with disabilities. Assisted living facilities can provide your parent with everything they could need, do your research, read reviews, make sure they have informational articles like this website.

If you start to feel guilty about deciding to put them into an assisted living facility, remember they are fully equipped to provide them with the care they need; if you could do the same they wouldn’t need to move there.

3. Can You Afford Those Accommodations?

Being able to provide the care and being able to afford to provide the care your elderly parent may need can be completely different from one another. Basically, you might have the time, energy, equipment, and training to care for your aging parent. But, can you afford a higher grocery, power, and utility bill?

Can you afford to renovate your home to make it accessible to your parent? Breaking the bank and putting yourself in massive debt just so your parent doesn’t have to move into an assisted living facility is not beneficial for anyone.

4. Understand the Finances

In order to fully know whether or not you can afford to accommodate your elderly parent as well as afford to have them live there in general, you need to understand the whole financial picture of the household. Both before your parent moves in (how it currently is) and after your parent moves in (an estimate of additional expenses and income).

Will your parent be contributing to the household bills in any fashion? Do they have access to their own money? Do they have any money? These are things to consider since they could help determine whether or not you can financially handle caring for your parent in your home.

5. Do You Have the Time?

Do your current professional and social calendars allow you to care for your elderly parent to the extent they may need? If they do not can you easily make adjustments without jeopardizing employment, health, or happiness?

6. What Type of Relationship Do You Have?

This has nothing to do with your marriage, sex life, or anything. What type of relationship do you have with your parent? Do you get along? Are you comfortable with each other? Do you argue all the time?

These are important things to consider. After all, they are going to be living with you full time, it won’t do if you can’t get along at all.

7. How Does the Rest of the Household Feel?

Is the rest of the household as on board with your decision as you are? Does your significant other get along with your parent? Do your children? Do they have any concerns or questions?

Be sure to include the entire household in this decision, they’ll be living with your parent too.

8. What Are the Benefits for the Parent?

While this is listed as the last thing to consider it really is the most important and what all of this is about anyway. How does your parent benefit from moving into your house and being cared for by you?

No matter what is going on with their health or your life, they should be able to be happy and comfortable as much as possible. It is still their life and they should have a say in it.

Moving Elderly Parents into Your Home

Moving elderly parents into your home may seem like a no brainer on the surface, but there are many things to consider before making the big move. It is a big decision and should be made with great care.

It can be a tough choice to decide to find a facility for your parent to live in. But knowing you won’t be able to provide the care they require beforehand is better than the alternative.

Caring for your parents doesn’t stop just because they move out. They cared for us for so long, it’s time to repay them in kind.

About Terri

My name is Terri and I live in an urban area in central Georgia, USA. I'm a mom to three kids and two furbabies. My hobbies include photography, reading, binge-watching movies, crocheting, D.I.Y. projects of every kind, gardening, hiking, glamping, and camping. I love to travel and go sightseeing. My coffee pot is my lifeline.